CHAPTER 28


Cooper and Charlotte drive Harper to Andie and Nicky's house. Nicky lets them in.

"We weren't expecting you to be home this early. Slacking off?" Cooper jokes with Nicky, patting his son-in-law on the back as he walks in the house.

"Nah," Nicky gives a shake of his head. "I came home early. I need to start packing for the tour."

"Poppa!" Harper hugs Nicky tight.

"Hey, rabbit, I hear you're ready to meet your sister."

"I guess," Harper nods, hesitantly. "I promised Nan and grandpa I would."

"Okay then." Nicky carries Harper into the playroom. "She's in her infant swing."

"She can sit in a swing?" Harper asks.

"Course, she can." Nicky carries Harper over to the swing where Hope's sitting, Charley's playing with his train set while Michael's toddling around from toy to toy."

"Where's Andie?" Charlotte asks.

"I told her to take a nap when I got home from work." Nicky kneels down in front of Hope's swing with Harper.

"Why does that baby have those tubes in her nose?" Harper points to Hope.

"Hope has those tubes to give her extra oxygen when she coughs or cries so she doesn't turn as blue." Nicky explains. "But after her heart surgery she won't need the tubes in her nose anymore."

"How can she eat with her mouth split open?" Harper stares at Hope's cleft lip.

"We have a special bottle for her." Nicky shows Harper the bottle.

"Oh." Harper studies the custom made bottle. "Can she drink out of it?"

"She sure can." Nicky responds.

Harper looks at Hope now. "I like her purple dress and her bow." Harper gently plays with the bow in Hope's hair. "And I like her little purple shoes too." She plays with Hope's foot.

"See Harp," Cooper looks on. "Hope is just like any other baby."

"Can I feed her the bottle?" Harper asks.

"Only if there's an adult around because if you don't do it right she'll gag and turn blue." Nicky tells Harper. "Do you still want to try?"

"Yes." Harper takes the bottle from Nicky.

"Put it in her mouth very gentle." Nicky guides nine year old Harper. "And it's important that she's sitting upright when you feed her. The gravity helps the milk to go down without her gagging on it."

Harper gently places the bottle in Hope's mouth. The almost four month old baby begins sucking on it. "I'm doing it, daddy, look she's eating it."

"Great job, Harp," Charlotte looks on, smiling.

"She's watching me." Harper tells them. Hope sucks on her bottle and looks at the nine year old feeding her.

"She's checking out her big sister." Nicky tells her.

"I wonder what she's thinking about me." Harper smiles.

Cooper jokes. "She's probably wondering -'who is this girl feeding me with the big full lips?' "

Charlotte elbows Cooper. "Not funny."

Harper tells Charlotte. "Maybe she does think that, Nan, because my mouth is different than hers. Maybe she thinks I'm the one who looks weird. I'm going to show her that I'm nice and fun even though I look different than her."

"See?" Cooper tells Charlotte. "I taught her that."

"No." Charlotte answers back. "WE taught her that."

MEANWHILE IN GEORGIA:

Tess is running on the paved trail in the park with her jogging stroller. A nice looking blonde man runs by then stops and calls out, "Tess Powers?"

Tess turns around. "Yes?"

The tall blonde man jogs over. "I'm Billy Jake Walters, everyone called me BJ in high school, remember me?"

"Of course I remember you. We were on cross country track freshman year."

"I didn't know you were back in Georgia?" He smiles. "It's nice to see you again."

"I just moved back last year. I've been keeping to myself mostly." She gestures down to Brayden in the stroller.

"Cute kid." Billy Jake tells her. "So, you're a married woman with kids now?"

"I'm not. I broke up with my fiancé before my son was born. It's a long complicated story. I won't bore you with the details. So, what have you been doing with yourself since high school?" Tess asks.

"I'm divorced, no kids."

"Divorced already? Tess asks. "I haven't even been married yet."

"I married Mary Lou Sanders, she was my high school sweetheart but it didn't work out."

"Sorry, to hear that."

"Nah...It's better this way. I'm better off without her."

"Why?" Tess doesn't mean to be nosy but she's curious.

"She cheated on me with Tommy Dawson. Remember him?"

Tess nods. "That's why I broke up with my high school sweetheart, my fiancé, same thing, he cheated on me and that was it for us. I moved back here."

Billy Jake looks at the baby. "He must have cheated on you while you were already pregnant then?'

"Yep, but he didn't know I was pregnant yet. It was early on and it turns out he married the bimbo he cheated on me with."

"Isn't that funny?" Billy Jake says.

"How is that funny?" Tess furrows her brow.

"Because Mary Lou married Tommy Dawson. They have a baby boy now."

"I wouldn't be surprised if Chase and that bimbo have a kid on the way too." Tess groans.

"I guess we have something in common." Billy Jake tells Tess.

"I guess we do." Tess nods.

"You wanna go out for dinner some night and talk about old times?" Billy Jake asks.

Tess thinks. "Why not?" Chase is married and she hasn't so much as looked at another guy until now, why should she say no, she thinks.

"Here's my phone number." Billy pulls out his phone to show her. Tess types his number into her phone and shows him hers.

"I'll call you tonight to set it up." Billy Jake tells Tess.

"Great, Billy, I'll look forward to it."

"Call me BJ, nobody's called me Billy-Jake since I was a kid."

"Alright, BJ. I'll talk to you tonight." Tess continues on her run with Brayden in the stroller.


Chase comes home from work to find Michelle waiting for him in bed in a pink and black silk negligee. "Isn't it a little early for bed?" Chase asks.

"It's too early for sleep but not too early for bed." Michelle flirts.

"Ohhhh." Chase looks at her in the negligee. "You want to have sex now?"

"I want to make a baby now." Michelle pats the vacant place next to her on the bed. Chase sits down, Michelle begins to undo his tie. Next, she moves her hand down between his thighs to check if her negligee turns him on. Nope, he's still deflated. She rubs her hand over him but gets no reaction from below. Up above he's kissing her trying to get himself in the mood. She unbuttons and unzips his pants before snaking her hand into his boxers. She grabs him and pumps for a good three minutes which seems like eternity to her. After the three minutes are up and he's still soft she flops down on her back.

"I'm sorry." He tells her. "I don't know what's wrong with me tonight."

"Performance anxiety." She tells him.

"But why? We're married. I shouldn't be nervous to perform for you. We've done it over a hundred times already."

Michelle rubs her hand over her head. "You're putting to much pressure on yourself to get me pregnant and it's backfiring. How am I ever going to get pregnant if you can't get it up?"

"I'm putting too much pressure on me to get you pregnant? How about you?" Chase asks. "You cry every month when you get your period or your pregnancy test comes back negative. You're the one putting the pressure on me."

"You want a baby just as bad as me." Michelle accuses.

"But I don't cry about it every month and make you feel bad for not getting pregnant." Chase shoots.

"Huh?" Michelle screws up her face.

"You know what I mean." Chase tells her. "How do you think it makes me feel each month to watch you cry because I wasn't man enough to knock you up and the one time I did you lost it."

"Chase?" Michelle's surprised to hear him say this. "I cried because I wanted to be pregnant. I'm not blaming you that it's not happening or for my miscarriage. I never said or implied there was something wrong with you. I know you're capable of getting a woman pregnant."

Chase screws up his face. "How would you know that?"

Michelle's at a loss for words. She can't tell him he got Tess pregnant once before. She thinks. "Because you got me pregnant once."

"Maybe I have defective sperm and that's why you had a miscarriage." Chase sighs.

"Or it could be me. Maybe there's something wrong with my body?" Michelle responds.

"It hasn't been that long, Michelle, you're putting too much pressure on both of us. Getting pregnant is supposed to be fun, not work and right now it feels like a job, it's not fun."

"Fine." Michelle says. "We'll take a break from it for a few months." Michelle picks up her pillow and blanket.

"Where are you going?" Chase asks.

"Since we're not making a baby tonight, I'm sleeping in the guest room." Michelle walks away with her pillow and blanket.

Chase shakes his head and goes into the bathroom.